Former state Sen. Randy Hopper claims that politics played a role in his drunken driving arrest in Fond du Lac County following a Packers game last fall.

Hopper got on the stand Thursday morning on the first day of his two-day trial and said his vote to eliminate collective bargaining for most state employees was the catalyst for numerous threats aimed at him.

"The day everything broke loose in Madison I had members of the union in my office who said, 'If you don't support us, we are going to destroy your life,'" Hopper said. "'We're going to picket your kids' schools, we're going to tear apart your reputation, we're going to have you recalled.'"

Hopper said people left notes on his car when he would be shopping at Festival Foods (but not the night of his OWI arrest).

Hopper was elected as Republican state senator from Fond du Lac in 2008 and was defeated last summer by Democrat Jessica King of Oshkosh in a recall election.

He was arrested Oct. 16 in the Festival Foods parking lot in Fond du Lac after travelers on Highway 151 north of the city reported a vehicle all over the road. Fond du Lac County Sheriff's Office Deputy Nick Venne conducted field sobriety tests, and a Fond du Lac Police Department officer also responded to the parking lot to assist.

"I don't have a lot of faith and trust in Officer Venne at this point because it seemed to me that he was out to get me," Hopper testified under questioning by special prosecutor Frank Endejan. "There are a lot of people who work in the county that have never met me personally that have sent me some of the most vile messages you have ever seen, sir."

Venne testified that he did sign a petition to recall Hopper, but that did not play a role in the arrest. Venne noted that Hopper smelled of alcohol and gave signs during the field sobriety test of intoxication.

Sheriff Mick Fink said any conspiracy theory that members of his office were out to get Hopper is "bizarre."

Fink said his office even supplied protection for Hopper when the former senator was concerned about his safety following the public's backlash on budget repair bill and collective bargaining issue.

In support of his conspiracy theory, Hopper testified that Fond du Lac Police Department Officer Keywon Brown confided in him in the Festival Foods parking lot that he would have handled the incident differently.

But a Fond du Lac Police Department spokesman says no such conversation between Hopper and Brown ever took place.

"We have spoken to Officer Brown, and he adamantly denies making any such comment to Mr. Hopper," said Capt. Steve Klein. "The conversation never took place."

Klein said Brown was there to assist but if it had been the city's case, Officer Brown would have handled it like any other OWI arrest.

"If there was probable cause to make an arrest, then there is probable cause and we would have made an arrest," Klein said. "Obviously, Mr. Hopper is mistaken in what Officer Brown said to him that evening."

Hopper's attorney, Dennis Melowski, had originally intended to call Brown as a defense witness, Klein said, but later took him off the witness list.

Endejan would not comment to The Reporter if he plans to call Brown to the stand today.

District Attorney Dan Kaminsky said there was a conflict of interest for his office or the Winnebago County District Attorney Office to prosecute the case since Hopper once represented both counties. After the state Department of Justice declined to prosecute the matter, Kaminsky went to Endejan, who once served as Fond du Lac County district attorney.

Melowski dominated the trial Thursday, often raising his voice in front of the jury and digging up the political history of witnesses. Tammy Hicken, who along with her husband Tim and daughter Stephanie allegedly witnessed the erratic driving of Hopper, appeared frustrated on the stand when Melowski continued to ask her about signing the Gov. Scott Walker recall petition.

During his opening argument, Melowski said his client drank as much as 3½ beers at a Green Bay Packers game on Oct. 16, 2011, before driving back to Fond du Lac with his girlfriend, Valerie Cass.

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Hopper declined to give an evidentiary chemical test of his breath for Venne. Jail staff members were able to get a preliminary breath test from Hopper that registered a blood alcohol content of .13 percent, more than 1.6 times the legal limit of .08 percent, according to the report.

Hopper said he did not take a preliminary breath test as sought by Venne because county employees have repeatedly threatened him.

The .13 percent BAC is not admissible as evidence during the trial. Melowski criticized Venne for not procuring a blood sample from Hopper, a step in the arrest process Venne agreed he had the power to do that.

The Hicken family said they had no clue on Oct. 16 that they were following Hopper until he and his girlfriend exited their vehicle in Fond du Lac. Even then, it took Stephanie Hicken using a Google search on her phone to figure out who he was, the 19-year-old testified.

"(It) would not matter who it (the driver the Hickens followed) was," Tammy Hicken testified. "The person was driving unsafe, in my opinion."

Tim Hicken of North Fond du Lac testified that he called 911 after he spotted a black Suburban driving recklessly on Highway 151.

Hicken testified he didn't know who was driving the car. He said that even though he is part of the union with the Fond du Lac County Highway Department, he was not part of a political movement at the time of the incident.

The budget repair bill that Hopper supported took away collective bargaining from groups like correctional officers, teachers and other state employees. The law did not impact police officers, sheriff's officers and firefighters.

In court, Melowski pitched a theory that Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Mark Strand, who Melowski said has a son who works for Jessica King, could be behind issuing a press release to The Reporter about Hopper so the story could appear in the Oct. 17 newspaper.

Hopper's arrest appeared on a log that is routinely sent to The Reporter three times a day. The Sheriff's Office put together a press release about the Hopper arrest in response to numerous media requests.